Cowboy
by Kathryn Mason-Sykes
Summary: A short Jack drabble about life out West.


A/N: I should be updating my Spot-fic instead of writing Jack drabble, but for some reason Christian Bale wouldn't get out of my head until I got this out. All mistakes are my own. Please read & review - all comments and criticisms are welcome!

Disclaimer: I don't own newsies, Jack Kelly, or any cowboys. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.

**Cowboy**

For years, Jack Kelly had dreamed of Santa Fe. He had dreamed of eternal sunshine on his face and the strong flank of a mustang beneath him. Many nights when Jack had laid in his bunk at the Newsboy lodging house, if he closed his eyes and shut out the sounds and smells of Manhattan he could almost believe that he was laying beneath the stars and open sky he knew to be blanketing New Mexico…

...It had been nearly eight months since Jack had left New York. It had been a four-day train ride out to Santa Fe and Jack could remember the light smell of manure as a floated across the arid air, welcoming him to his new home. He spent his first two days in town getting acquainted with the lay of the land and talking with the local shop owners. The owner of the dry goods store was able to provide Jack with the names of a few ranch owners who might be looking for an extra cattle hand. By his third day in New Mexico, Jack had a job, a meal ticket, and a stable roof over his head.

If only he'd known what he was getting into.

The first two weeks were rough for Jack. He'd ridden a horse before, but was unfamiliar with the soreness that follows ten hours in a saddle. He'd trained himself to lasso in New York, but actually having a 300-lb. calf on the other end of that rope brought a whole new dimension to the experience. Nevertheless, Jack Kelly was never one to be called a quitter and his ability to learn quickly from his unfortunate experiences served him well. You wouldn't know that Jack had never run cattle before after a month had passed – he was a natural-born cowboy.

Jack had walked off the train in Santa Fe with the clothes on his back, six dollars and eight cents in his pocket, and a small rucksack with a change of clothes and a small knife. Sam Walters had seen spirit in the young man's eyes and took a chance bringing him on as a cattle hand. After six weeks of working together, Sam knew that Jack's dreams didn't stop with working on his ranch—Jack wanted to be his own master; a true cowboy. When Jack asked Sam if he could put his earnings towards a horse and saddle of his own, Sam had agreed. Two months later, Blaze was no longer one of Sam's horses, but Jack's first. Another month passed before Jack had enough money to purchase a 10-acre stretch of dry grassland to call his own. Still three more before he'd earned enough to build a few corrals and put a small barn on the land. He would be making payments on the barn for the next two years, but Jack had finally completed his ranch foundation. Now all he needed were the mustangs to fill it.

Jack had been out following a pack of wild horses for going on ten days. He was wise enough to stay away from any horses that belonged to the Natives, and smart enough to recognize the difference. The herd he was currently tracking belonged to no one but themselves – Jack felt that they were kindred spirits, in a way. He had no desire to break the horses, only to train them; something Jack knew too well the difference between.

The stallion had put up quite a fight, but by day thirteen Jack was making good time back towards his ranch with fifteen mares and a stallion of his own. It looked like he might have a colt or two coming within the next few weeks as well. By dusk of his fourteenth day away from home, Jack had managed to get all sixteen horses back to the ranch and in the largest corral.

Sam had been keeping an eye on the place in Jack's absence and couldn't help but smile when he saw the young man driving the herd in. Sam would never have guessed that the same young man in the saddle was hawking headlines in New York a mere eight months ago. A moment later he realized it wasn't; the Jack Kelly Sam knew was not the same boy from New York. The Jack Kelly he knew was a man of the west, a true Cowboy. And one with a bright future ahead of him.

--Finis--

_Please review!_


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